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Ice Breaker
Ice Breaker is a 1999 American computer-animated adventure family comedy film produced by Victor Animation Studios and Blender Animation. It is the first animated feature in the Blender Animation canon. The film was directed by Francis Lawrence (in his directorial debut) from a screenplay by James Rhyermer, Graham Bricks, John Brenner and Scott Frank from a story by Ton Roosendaal, Heyward, and Bram Moolenaar, and stars the voices of Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron, John Travolta, Amal Clooney, Jennifer Tilly, Samuel L. Jackson, Ed Helms, Micheal Sheen, Karla DeVito, Taye Diggs, Jennifer Collybelly and John C. Reilly. Set in a world based on Snowy Ice, the film centers on a young boy named Joe Henson (Depp), who uses an oversized Ice Crusher to defend the world's liveliness against Terrence Judge (Helms), a demented, colorblind elder and the owner of the Ice Hater who intends to the world in order to satisfy his "Melting". Ice Breaker was originally conceived by Ton and Moolenaar in the 1980s while working at King Feature Syndicate. Blender was approached by Victor Hugo Pictures to produce an animated feature film in 1989. With its original draft completely different from its final version, Ice Breaker initially began pre-production in June 1990 for release in Christmas 1992, being intended to be the first feature-length animated film directed by Ton, who designed the characters for the film. It was later abandoned by Blender in mid-1991, but restarted production on the film for a 1999 release, with the script being rewritten. However, because of Ton being busy with other projects such as The Riveros, co-writer Francis Lawrence was chosen to direct the film. Ice Breaker was originally released on May 21, 1999 to positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation, characters, music, and voice acting. It was a success at the box office, earning over $452 million worldwide on its $64 million budget, making it the seventh highest-grossing animated film of 1999, as well as the seventh highest-grossing film of the year overall. A television series based on the film aired on Nickelodeon from June 2000 to June 2002, and a direct-to-video sequel is scheduled for release on DVD and Blu-ray in 2020. Plot Coming soon! Voice cast * Johnny Depp asJohnny DeppJoe Henson, a kind and creative 17-year-old Ice Creator Man. * Karla DeVito asKarla DeVitoSara Henson, Joe's mother * Jennifer Tilly asJennifer TillyWendy Warburton, Joe's love interest. * Charlize Theron asCharlize TheronDavid Henson, Joe's bigger brother. * Melora Walters asMelora WaltersAunt Alex, Joe's aunt. * Jennifer Collybelly asJennifer CollybellySarah * Jodi Benson asJodi BensonAllison * Valeria Golino asValeria GolinoHalle * John Travolta asJohn TravoltaMike Henson, Joe's father. * Ed Helms as Terrence Judge, the founder of the Ice Hater Squad who is one of the few to be disillusioned with the Ice world. ** Helms also voices John. * Samuel L. Jackson asSamuel L. JacksonGary * Micheal Sheen asMicheal SheenPeter * Taye Diggs asTaye DiggsMark * John C. Reilly as Seth * Alfre Woodard asAlfre WoodardKelly * Ken Welsh as Cary, Joe's pet talking wolfdog. Additional voices * David V. Hope * Jim Cummings * Michael J. Gough * Keith Ferguson * John Ratzenberger * Dan Green * Khary Payton * Frederick Tatasciore * Brian Bloom * Lara Miller * Catherine Disher * Ton Roosedaal * Vanessa Marshall * Francis Lawrence * Richard Horvitz * Tara Strong * Robin Downes * Bill Fagerbakke * Laraine Newman * Andy Heyward * Bram Moolenaar Production Development The idea of Ice Breaker was originally conceived by animators Ton Roosedaal andTon RoosedaalBram Moolenaar in the 1970s while working at King Features Syndicate before their newly-formed animation studio Ton-Moolenaar Productions was separated from King Features Syndicate and renamed as Blender Animation in 1981; they always wanted to realize their dream of producing an animated feature-length film. Ton then came up with the story of the film, which was about a boy who attempts to save his world from Melting Ice. After the success of Blender's short film Sailing Girl in 1990, the studio was approached by Victor Hugo Pictures to produce an animated feature film that would become Ice Breaker, an offer which the founders immediately accepted. The deal was settled in June 1990, and Ton and Moolenaar, along with fellow Blender animator Francis Lawrence, began working on the script of Ice Breaker, which was to be directed by Ton in his feature-length directorial debut. The original draft was completely different from the final version of the film. In the draft, Joe Henson was named Hen and was a human Teenager raised by humanoid creatures known as "Icetrolls." Years passed, Hen, now a young adult, had found out that the world is coming apart by Melting Ice that were stolen by wicked monsters so he teamed up with his friends to stop the monsters. After their victory of wiping out the monsters, Hen then became the leader of the Icetrolls. Hen is the only main character in the original draft who made it to the final version as Joe Henson. Some of the characters in the draft later become Joe's family and friends in final film. Blender approved of the film's script and pre-production for Ice Breaker started, set for a Christmas 1992 release date. The studio then looked for actors to be cast in the film. In early 1990, the Blender staff flew to production of the 1991 film June 31st to discuss the part of Hen with Mel Blanc. Sigourney Weaver, known for his role as Dian Fossey of the 1988 20th Century Fox film Working Girl, was also being reportedly considered for the role of Hen. Moolenaar's choices for the other characters included Roddy McDowall, Shawnee Smith and Leslie Nielsen. However, development for Ice Breaker was stalled in March 1991 when Victor Hugo Pictures and Blender became concerned over the upcoming release of the 1992 animated films, Fox's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FernGully:_The_Last_Rainforest FernGully: The Last Rainforest] and Paramount's animated film Bébé's Kids (which were both released on the same year). Blender abandoned Ice Breaker in April 1991 after the studio had already designed six months worth pre-production and Blender had left the project. The studio then decided to start work on other projects, such as the short film Love Found and the television series Sailor Moon to be aired on HBO in 1992. With the success of Sailor Moon, Blender began concerning their interest in restarting development on Ice Breaker in early 1995. The following year, Blender revived the project and the staff brought The Pebble and the Penguin ''produced John Pomeroy on to help rewrite their 1990 script with additional input from Mike Saldanha and John Brenner. As Ton was busy on other projects at the time, writer Lawrence was selected to direct the film in his directorial debut. Victor Hugo Pictures then returned to the film in 1997 and secured Blender's first animated feature with the film. Design ''Coming soon! Animation The animation was provided by Victor Animation Studios under the leadership of animation director Rodger Darling, as the film was animated in-house at the studio's main headquarters in Hollywood. Additional animation was done overseas at Klasky Csupo in United States, Collingwood & Co. and LTL Production in United Kingdom and Cuppa Coffee Studios and Decode Entertainment in Canada. Music : Main article: Ice Breaker/Soundtrack The film's original soundtrack was released by Milan Records on April 25, 1999. The songs for the film were composed by Lawrence and English lyricist David Latta, while the score was composed by John Powell of Oasis. Originally, Mark Mothersbaugh was going to compose the score, but dropped out due to creative differences; Mark would eventually later compose a number of subsequent Victor Hugo Pictures animated films starting with Super Hedgehog in 2003. The score for the film, composed by Powell, was released through Varèse Sarabande on May 17, 1999. This is a list of musical numbers for the film: Releases Paint World was theatrically released by Victor Hugo Pictures on May 21, 1999 in the United States and Canada. Marketing The film was accompanied by a promotional campaign by McDonalds. Trailers * The first teaser was released on May 15, 1998 and was shown before [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_for_Camelot Quest for Camelot], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulan_(1998_film) Mulan] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Dolittle_(film) Dr. Dolittle]. * The first official trailer was released on July 10, 1998, and was shown before Madeline, The Parent Trap, I Hate Bad Guy, Air Bud: Golden Receiver ''and ''Antz. * The second official trailer was released on November 13, 1998, and was shown before I'll Be Home for Christmas, Zoo Life, The Rugrats Movie, A Bug's Life, Babe: Pig in the City ''and ''Jack Frost. * The third and final official trailer was released on December 18, 1998, and was shown before The Prince of Egypt, Mighty Joe Young, The King and I, ''and Doug's 1st Movie. * TV spots began to air from April to May of 1999. Home media ''Ice Breaker was released on VHS on September 21, 1999. DVD version of this was released on February 15, 2000, The DVD release included an audio commentary by Francis Lawrence, Bram Moolenaar, and Ton Roosedaal, a 28-minute making-of documentary, a gallery of concept art, storyboards, test footage, deleted scenes, and DVD-ROM features. Blender's 1999 short film Lucie was also included. On July 19, 2005, a 2-disc "Special Edition" was released featuring the same special features from the original 2000 DVD as well as new ones including a sneak preview of the 2005 Blender CGI Anime animated film Sailor Moon. The film was released for the first time on Blu-ray on July 22, 2008. Same goes in May 19, 2009 with a DVD for 10th Anniversary, June 15, 2010 in Blu-Ray 3D and Finally March 7, 2017 on DVD and Blu-Ray. Reception Critical response The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 89% approval rating with an average rating of 8/10 based on 185 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "Ice Breaker's title promises coldest family fun, enriched by a high-spirited voice ensemble, a visionary plot, and plenty of gags throughout." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 68 out of 100 based on 47 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Jo Coppola of Rolling Stone gave the film three out of four stars and called it "an icy animated painting-oriented musical that highly lives up to the successful level as other animated film like [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antz Antz] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_(1997_film) Anastasia]." Joe Morgenstern of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and describing it as "amazingly creative and outstanding with the heart and charm of other animated hits." Grace Kingsley of The Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film four out of four stars and said "Having the familiar standards and charm of Sailor Moon and Drake and Penelope as well as the interesting concept, Ice Breaker is a new coming of age for Blender." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said that "Victor Hugo Pictures' Ice Breaker often entertains the family-friendly audience that keeps them joyful." However, some critics disliked the film's unexpected similarities with the animated films of the Pixar Animation Studios films and other animated films. Terrence Rafferty of the Chicago Tribune gave the film one and a half stars out of four and compared the film to Toy Story, saying that "Ice Breaker feels like one of those shameless Pixar rip-offs that have a story that sounds familiar to us." Charles Champlin of The New York Observer criticized the film's characterization, and noted that the relationship between Joe and Wendy was akin to "Jack Skellington and Sally all over again." On the more negative side, Andrew Johnston of Time Out New York called Ice Breaker a poor CGI's The Prince of Egypt. Box office The film was released on May 21, 1999, and grossed $452,362,269 on its opening weekend (Friday, May 21, 1999), leaving it #5 behind The Matrix ''and Tarzan. By the end of its theatrical run, it got to earn a worldwide gross of $582,925,684, becoming the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film of the year, as well as the seven highest-grossing animated film of 1999 behind [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Giant ''The Iron Giant]. Accolades Other media Video games Paint World has spawned four video games: * Ice Breaker was released in 1999 and in 2000 by Victor Interactive for PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and Mac. * Ice Breaker: Activity Center, an educational game, was released in 2000 for Windows and Dreamcast, and is part of Blender's educational Blender Learning Games series. * Ice Breaker: Terrence Strikes Back was released in 2003 by Victor Interactive and Jester Interactive for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Network. * Ice Breaker'': Joe's Huge Journey'' was released in 2004 by Victor Interactive and Jevendi Herbertio Games for the Microsoft Windows. Television series : Main article: Ice Breaker (TV series) Ice Breaker is a short-lived American animated television series created by Blender Animation and Victor Hugo Pictures Television Animation in 2000, based on Victor Hugo Pictures and Blender's animated feature film of the same name. The series aired on Nickelodeon from June 17, 2000 to June 29, 2002, and continues the story of the 1999 film. Other appearances Coming soon! Sequel : Main article: Ice Breaker 2 In 2005, the Special Edition DVD of Ice Breaker featured a sneak peek of the proposed direct-to-video sequel to Ice Breaker, including new character designs and storyboards. The story would have involved Joe and his friends trying to stop Terrence Judge from making chaos and destruction to Ice World again. It was set to be directed by Peyton Reed and scheduled to be released in 2006, but was delayed for many years until production was cancelled in mid 2009 due to script issues. In September 2017, it was announced that the Ice Breaker[[Ice Breaker sequel| sequel]], was revived and back into development by Victor Hugo Pictures and Blender, and would be released straight-to-video in 2020, The sequel will be directed by Miguel Arteta and produced by Brendan O'Brien, with Virginie Besson-Silla returning to write the script and Fred Roos and Deborah Moggach joining to co-write. It was also announced that Jennifer Tilly and Charlize Theron will reprise their roles as Wendy Warburton and David Henson respectively, with Max Greenfield casted as the new voice of Joe Henson, replacing Johnny Depp from the previous film. Transcripts Main To see the main transcript of the film, click here. Trailers To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.Category:Films Category:Victor Hugo Pictures films Category:Blender Animation animated films Category:1990s Category:1999 Category:Films directed by Francis Lawrence Category:Ice Breaker Victor Hugo Pictures Animation animated films Category:Victor Hugo Pictures animated films Category:G-Rated films Category:Victor Hugo Pictures animated features canon Category:CGI films Category:Blender films Category:Family films Category:Fantasy films Category:Co-produced films